So I was at this really interesting guiser basin where you place a little basket of eggs in the naturally boiling sulfur water and have a little egg picnic. It's actually pretty cool! After that, there's this whole spa resort type thing that surrounds the guizer basin. They offered me a swimsuit and said "No we go swimming!" You don't want to say "no" and sound like an unenthusiastic exchange student, but you don't exactly want your whole extended host family to know your time of the month. So after they told me that, I awkwardly walked over to the only lady in the family who spoke English enough to understand (who I'd only known since that day and sure wasn't going to tell my host father), and whispered it to her. She then gave me a look and said (quite loudly), "Right now?" I gave an embarrassed little nod. Then she turns back to face the table where everyone else is sitting and says something to them all in Thai. Immediately, they all give me a sympathetic look and my host father says, "okay, you can't swim this week. You stay here." So yea. Apparently that type of thing isn't as awkward as it is in North America, which makes it MUCH MORE awkward for the North American visiting Thailand. Now my whole extended host family knows when I get my period. That's just lovely (and now the whole internet, but that's beside the point).
And then yesterday, my friend invited me to go swimming and I, unthinkingly, said yes. Then later I was with my host father and I remembered and said "oh wait! I can't go swimming", gesturing downwards. My host father responds: "that's right, you can't", gesturing to the same place. EXTREMELY AWKWARD MOMENT WHEN BOTH YOU AND YOUR HOST FATHER ARE POINTING AT YOUR LADY PARTS.
Seeing as we're on the topic of awkward bathroom things, I'll add that I can now use the butt-hose in place of toilet paper. Whooooo ;)
Now then. Time for bed. Fun dee naka!
Yea, I can't believe I actually posted this either.
Anneke
